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SAFETY ENHANCED TOGETHER: A FRAMEWORK FOR GUIDING CHILD WELFARE PRACTICE

Through Teamwork and Family Engagement: In San Diego, Our Families Are SET to Live Well

SAFETY ENHANCEDTOGETHER

County of San Diego Child Welfare Services

4

VISION

Every child grows up safe and nurtured.

CWS PRIORITIES

CWS has collaboratively designed a practice framework to guide the top three priorities of the agency.

1. Safely stabilize and preserve families; and if that is not possible

2. Safely care for children and reunify children to their families of origin; and if reunification is not possible

3. Safely support the development of permanency and lifelong relationships for children and youth.

1

DEAR CWS TEAM,

Several years ago, Child Welfare Services began a journey to strengthen our programs

approach to serving children and families when we implemented Safety-Organized

Practice (SOP), which engages families as collaborative partners in making decisions

about their childrens safety. Through this experience, we created an opportunity to build

on that practice by clearly articulating the vision and values that serve as the core of

our work. Today, the Safety Enhanced Together (SET) Practice Framework represents the

culmination of our collective vision that every child involved with our Agency will grow

up safe and nurtured.

The enclosed overview of the SET Practice Framework illustrates how we strive to translate

our vision and values into our work with children and families by providing supervisors,

managers, and social workers with concrete examples of the practices that best reflect

our child welfare culture. In addition, the SET Practice Framework offers a yardstick we

can use to recognize our strengths, identify areas to improve, and evolve as a learning

organization. I also anticipate that this framework will enhance our ability to provide

quality, consistent case work throughout our regions and programs, and ensure that any

new child welfare innovations we adopt align with our vision, top priorities, and values.

In the following pages, you will discover that weve grounded the SET Practice Framework

in our belief that our relationships are the foundation of all our work. I hope that youll

recognize how you are already demonstrating the SET vision, values, and practices in your

daily interactions. I also hope that SET makes it easier to articulate our work.

Most important, I want to thank each of you for contributing to the development of the SET

practice framework. Over the last few years, we have gathered feedback from all levels of

leadership and staff spanning the Agencys programs and regions, and gained invaluable

insight from birth parents, resource families, and former foster youth. Together, your collective

commitment to building an organization that prepares children and families to grow and

thrive shaped the SET Practice Framework. By clearly articulating what to expect from

San Diego Child Welfare Services, were confident that we can live up to our motto:

Through Teamwork and Family Engagement: In San Diego, Our Families are SET to Live Well.

Sincerely,

Debra Zanders-Willis

Director, Child Welfare Services

We value the

importance

of meaningful

relationships

with children,

youth, and

families, and

their extended

networks.

1. Recognize that enhancing safety for children and youth in the home is the top priority for everyone involved.

2. Build shared understanding and agreement through family engagement.

3. Maximize family strength and build on their skills, abilities, and connections.

4. Partner with the whole family to create long-term safety, ongoing permanency, and well-being.

5. Honor and incorporate the voices of children and youth.

6. Recognize and appreciate the familys culture.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Hold a clear understanding of the definition of safety

Engage the family in safety planning by utilizing respectful, honest, and transparent communication

Understand Safety-Organized Practice (SOP), role model the principles, and utilize the tools

Ensure the child/youths voice is gathered/represented at every meeting to inform key decisions and focus on safety, permanency, and well-being

Partner with families when creating plans that respect the cultural aspects of the family

Value Family Centered Meetings (FCMs) as a tool for engagement

Continuously focus on how the abuse/neglect impacts the child/youth

Acknowledge and respect that the family is the expert about their family

Continue to build on the familys existing strengths and utilize these strengths to mitigate danger and provide safety

Develop case plans that reflect specific behavioral detail to achieve the safety goal

Establish and maintain collaboration with schools, public health, public safety, and other community partners

AGENCY PRACTICE

VALUE 1RELATIONSHIPS WITH CHILDREN, YOUTH AND FAMILIES ARE THE FOUNDATION

KEY SOCIAL WORKER ACTIONS: DO I...

Use open communication and partner with the child, youth, and family to incorporate their voices?

Utilize a Safety-Organized Practice (SOP) approach for engagement and assessment?

Conduct thorough and timely Structured Decision Making (SDM) assessments?

Convene Family Centered Meetings (FCMs) at key decision points?

Use the Case Plan Field Tool with the family to create a behaviorally based case plan?

Identify family support systems using eco-maps, genograms or Circles of Safety and Support?

KEY SUPERVISOR ACTIONS: DO I...

Utilize SDM in consultation with workers?

Monitor open cases for safety assessments and risk level?

Promote/Attend FCMs?

Utilize eco-maps, genograms, and Circles of Safety and Support in consultations?

Utilize SOP approach?

Conduct regular supervision?

KEY MANAGER ACTIONS: DO I...

Review SDM measures in Safe Measures?

Utilize the safety/risk matrix?

Utilize eco-maps, genograms, and Circles of Safe and Support in consultations?

Identify practice leaders in the region on FCMs?

Utilize SOP approach?

Conduct regular supervision?

1. Cutting edge training and supportive services for kinship and resource families.

2. Seeking and creating opportunities for biological families, kinship, and resource families to communicate and work together for the child/youths best interests.

3. Consistent communication and information sharing.

4. Being accountable and responsive to the cultural values of all families.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Support kinship and resource families to continue to expand their knowledge

Provide ongoing assessment of needs and services for kinship and resource families

Exhibit clearly defined, respectful working relationships with kinship and resource families

Seek caregiver insight and feedback regarding the child/youth and case decisions

Keep safety, permanency, and well-being of child/youth at the forefront

Discuss permanency with parents, caregivers, and support networks initially and throughout the life of the case

Utilize shared decision making with child/youth voice and well-being at the forefront

Engage both the parent and caregiver to bridge the relationship between the two

Recognize unique needs of kinship and resource families

Help kinship and resource families understand social workers roles and child welfare laws

AGENCY PRACTICE

VALUE 2COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIPS WITH KINSHIP AND RESOURCE FAMILIES

We recognize

and appreciate

the hard work

and willing hearts

of the kinship

and resource

families to

provide excellent

parenting. We

strive to create

partnerships with

these families

that are

characterized

by respect

and mutual

information

sharing.


Include kinship/resource families in FCMs?

Facilitate a relationship between the kinship/resource family, parents, and child/youths service providers?

Connect kinship/resource families to respite resources, support groups, and mentor families?

Utilize clearly established communication and confidentiality guidelines?

Create detailed tasks/expectations with kinship/resource families to enhance safety, permanency, and well-being?

Help kinship/resource families identify support networks and how they will utilize those networks?


Provide feedback to leadership team on gaps in service and training needs?

Ensure that SWs reach out to kinship/resource families to help link them to supportive services?

Include support service and training information in Supervisor Learning Circles and unit meetings?

Ensure SWs are aware of resources for kinship/resource families?

Respond timely to both kinship/ resource family and social workers (SWs) concerns?

Guide SWs in understanding the confidentiality guide and policies around communication?


Arrange training that includes applicable skills caregivers can use with children/youth?

Host events for/with kinship and resource families to share and learn from each other?

Acquire full knowledge of new practices to share with workers?

Support utilization of the Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI) partnership plan?

Ensure access to enough cultural liaisons?

Highlight confidentiality guide and communications policies for staff?

We are

committed to

enhancing the

well-being of

children/youth

and helping

them to identify

and develop

meaningful

relationships and

connections

in their

communities.

VALUE 3HELPING CHILDREN AND YOUTH ACHIEVE THEIR FULL POTENTIAL AND DEVELOP LIFELONG RELATIONSHIPS

1. Recognizing that the optimal place for children is safely in their own homes.

2. If children have to leave the home to maintain safety, actively strive to preserve their connections to:

Siblings;

Family and familiar people;

School and community of origin;

Culture, religion, and tribal affiliations.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Maintain a holistic view of the child/youth

Include and build on a familys strengths and resiliencies in order to maintain children/youth in their own home

Continuously assess safety throughout the life of the case

Identify ways to mitigate trauma to children/youth by using a trauma-informed perspective

Maintain connections to important people, activities, and cultural traditions in the child/youths life

Value placements with connections to the child/youth and family first

Consider family culture when assessing permanency

Ensure the voice of the child/youth is heard

Value the most permanent option for the child/youth including reunification, adoption, and guardianship

Understand and value concurrent planning

Establish both legal and relational permanence for children/youth

Value the need to have ongoing needs assessments including developmental, behavioral, educational, dental, medical, etc.

AGENCY PRACTICE

3. Identifying living situations that support children and their relationships should be done as quickly as possible.

4. Holding a sense of urgency when seeking permanency for children.

5. Continual focus on childrens well-being while they are in our care.


Create safety goals, case plans, and safety networks with the family?

Explain concurrent planning throughout my interactions with the family?

Immediately establish consistent, planned, and purposeful visitation with parents and siblings?

Hold a Team Decision-Making (TDM) meeting immediately when a placement is needed?

Conduct ongoing assessment of the child/youths placement for safety, permanency, and well-being including cultural preservation?

Advocate for child/youths educational stability and success?


Inquire about family and safety network participation in FCMs?

Model a solution-focused approach?

Assess for least restrictive level of placement, most natural environment for visits, and concurrent planning?

Ensure SWs are capturing family history and culture in case documentation?

Attend TDM meetings?

Explore the need for interagency placement committee (IPC) and permanency roundtables?


Emphasize the importance and value of family participation?

Advocate for needed services?

Model a solution-focused approach?

Encourage and foster concepts of preserving connections throughout the life of the case?

Facilitate relationships between units and regions?

Elevate systemic challenges and barriers to leadership team?

HELPING CHILDREN AND YOUTH ACHIEVE THEIR FULL POTENTIAL AND DEVELOP LIFELONG RELATIONSHIPS

We value the

importance of

building and

maintaining

trusting

relationships

with partners

to support the

priorities and

values of

this framework.

1. Shared responsibility with the community to ensure community resources are accountable, responsive, and culturally sensitive.

2. Identifying and strengthening informal and formal resources in every community.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Staff and community partners have a shared vision for safety, permanency, and well-being

Incorporate the familys voice in identifying formal and informal resources

Look for innovative ways of utilizing existing resources in the community

Assess familys strengths and needs and refer to appropriate evidence-informed programs

Recognize that families have extended family, kinship support, and informal supports in their communities

Continuously share best and emerging practices, techniques, policies, and tools that impact families with community partners

Recognize the family as their own expert and encourage and support the family in working together with their community

Maintain open communication and transparency with families and community partners

Initiate and cultivate ongoing relationships with community partners

AGENCY PRACTICE

3. Services are evidence-informed and continuously evaluated.

4. Recognizing that families are a resource for one another and the community.

VALUE 4SHARED RESPONSIBILITY WITH COMMUNITY PARTNERS


Solicit the expertise of community partners on how best to support families in their communities?

Include community partners in FCMs?

Ensure support networks and aftercare plans are working before the familys case is closed?

Have open and ongoing communication with community partners?

Use eco-maps, genograms, or Circles of Safety and Support in FCMs to highlight connections?

Make every effort to maintain familial connections?


Invite community partners to participate on workgroups?

Monitor and inquire about the delivery of culturally competent services?

Ensure that safety networks have been tested and are working?

Encourage SWs to seek out participation of community partners in FCMs?

Attend trainings in order to be knowledgeable about resources and to keep them current?

Value the family as a resource for creating safety?


Facilitate relationships that foster co-location of staff?

Ensure that proper, consistent, and ongoing training occurs?

Monitor reunification and re-entry data, and advocate for the development of support networks?

Support informal and formal partnerships and promote new partnerships?

Advocate for the utilization of technology for the delivery and evaluation of services?

Monitor and inquire about the delivery of culturally competent services?

We value

respectful

working

relationships

with courts,

attorneys,

Court

Appointed

Special

Advocates,

and law

enforcement

agencies.

1. Always maintaining primary focus on childrens best interests.

2. Ensuring that all parties have mutual understanding of, and respect for, one anothers roles, the law, and the rights due to children, youth, and families.

3. Seeking collaborative decisions and case plans whenever possible.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Collaborate with partners in the legal system to minimize multiple interviews

Partake in cross-agency education regarding practice, policy, and child abuse laws

Advocate for the least restrictive care necessary to provide safety and meet the child/youths needs

Continually assess that a child/youths legal and personal rights are being met

Seek input and value legal partner perspectives

Include County Counsel in communication with other legal partners

Value teamwork and coordination of CWS investigations throughout the life of the case

Understand confidentiality with regard to legal partners

Advocate for the least restrictive and most liberal visitation with parents, family, and siblings

AGENCY PRACTICE

4. Regularly working toward efforts to improve court processes to ensure that they are supportive of mutual goals.

5. Collaborating with law enforcement to ensure safety and effective coordination of services.

VALUE 5A STRONG WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LEGAL SYSTEM


Collaborate for a planned operation with our legal partners to minimize trauma?

Follow policies and protocols regarding placement and case plan goal changes?

Consult with County Counsel at critical case decision points?

Use Penal Codes to support investigation decisions?

Document open and clear communication with our legal partners throughout the life of the case?

Submit timely court reports following court timelines and policy?


Discuss details of planned operation between CWS and legal partners?

Help SWs to determine whether a multi-disiplinary team or case consultation is most appropriate?

Model clear and responsive communication?

Discuss Penal Codes with workers?

Attend cross-training with legal partners?

Monitor timely submission of court reports?


Support relationship building with legal partners and staff?

Ensure law enforcement liaisons are available in all regions?

Ensure all regions have access to trauma-informed training opportunities?

Attend legal partners meetings?

Keep updated on policies?

Build relationships with legal partners?

We are a

learning

organization that

values the well-

being of staff

at all levels. We

value authentic,

strength-based

leadership

that builds

engagement

and shared

accountability.

1. A proactive workplace culture of reflection, responsiveness, and shared responsibility.

2. Ongoing learning and professional development that include respectful mentoring and coaching relationships.

3. Recognition and appreciation of differences.

4. A manageable and equitable workload and up-to-date technology to allow for quality work.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Be knowledgeable of SET mission, vision, and values

Utilize SET practice behaviors to guide your practice with families and partners

Value Continuous Quality Improvement

Understand that learning and development happen throughout your career

Suspend assumptions and hold a spirit of curiosity

Willingly share accomplishments

Appreciate teamwork and a multi-disciplinary approach to practice

Strive for transparency in the workplace

Value the use of data to guide improvements for children, youth, and families

Value yourself as a professional and a role model

Utilize opportunities to build resiliency, practice self-care, and maintain a work/life balance

Promote Live Well San Diego activities

AGENCY PRACTICE

5. Use of real-time data by all staff to guide organization-wide decisions in support of continuous quality improvement (CQI).

6. A work culture guided by the practice framework values.

7. A system that recognizes and addresses secondary traumatic stress and provides opportunities for staff to build resiliency and maintain a work/life balance.

VALUE 6A WORKPLACE CULTURE CHARACTERIZED BY REFLECTION, APPRECIATION, AND ONGOING LEARNING


Actively participate in ongoing learning and coaching in SOP?

Utilize strength-based leadership?

Engage in ongoing self-evaluation and assessment?

Share my strengths/talents and professional development goals with my supervisor?

Participate in all required training and learning circles?

Conduct a warm hand-off at case transfer to help the family and next worker continue to be successful?


Promote an open door policy?

Use Appreciative Inquiry and recognize staff strengths?

Demonstrate commitment to ongoing learning and professional development?

Share updates to policies, practice, resources, findings from CQI projects and cutting edge research?




Highlight times when warm hand-offs worked well and strategies for conducting warm hand-offs?



Highlight whats working well in the unit and region/program?

Support and model the practice framework?

Model Live Well San Diego activities?

KEY EXPECTATIONS

Family Partnerships

Child/Youth Voice

Kinship and Resource

Family Teaming

Cultural Responsiveness

Safety-Organized Practice

Aftercare Plans

Comprehensive Assessments Enhanced by

Agency Tools

Support Systems/Safety

Networks

Community Partner

Collaboration

Open and Clear

Communication

Behaviorally Descriptive Case Plans

Connection Preservation

CONTINUOUS QUALITY IMPROVEMENTSan Diego County Child Welfare Services (CWS) began shifting from Quality Assurance (QA)

to Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) in 2012. Implementation of Safety-Organized

Practice, development of the Safety Enhanced Together (SET) practice framework along

with national and statewide momentum made it clear that we needed a qualitative review

process that was not just about looking back but making sure the work we had already

done was our best.

CQI supports the practice of Appreciative Inquiry by helping us focus on the areas where we

are doing well; CQI can help identify when staff are doing well and help us spread and grow

those practices throughout our system. CQI relies on shared responsibility for data and

outcomes at all levels of staff. Workers, supervisors, and managers all have the responsibility

to input quality data and to know about data and outcomes. CQI also helps us have more

transparency by partnering with families, youth, and other key stakeholders to take a look at

how we improve our system and using their feedback as another means to evaluate our work.

A CQI approach focuses on identifying the root causes of problems or contributing factors

to strengths, developing interventions to reduce or eliminate these causes or further improve

upon strengths, and taking action to correct the processes with a continuous feedback loop

to make and maintain positive changes in policy and case practice. Ownership for continuous

improvement is essential at all levels of staff and it is necessary for the entire Child Welfare

system to place a high value on teamwork, collaboration, and communication.

CQI will help us identify the depth to which worker practice aligns with SET and will be evaluated

using the following scale:

NOVICE There is evidence that the worker has tried out or begun to use the tool but may not

have implemented it properly.

EMERGING There is evidence that the worker is using the tool or practice but lacks accuracy

and/or consistency.

ACCOMPLISHED There is evidence that the worker uses the tools and practices them consistently

and accurately.

DISTINGUISHED There is evidence that the tools and practices are integrated into the workers

practice as a way of doing business.

MASTER There is evidence that in addition to practicing integrated work the worker is creative

with the tools in difficult or problematic situations or takes the next steps of follow-up

and evaluation.

2MARCH 2015

SAFETY ENHANCED TOGETHER - … · • family is the expert about their familyUnderstand ... √...

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